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Powerade reloads Matrix drink
Self-defence for plants
UK’s FSA warns against GM imports
Unilever Bestfoods sells Van Den Bergh Oils to ADM
Software maps social network
Product tracking software cuts retailers’ costs
Launches
Powerade
reloads Matrix drink
 As
the world moves into virtual hyper-reality, what do Neo-lovers need to
keep up with the buzz? Why, it’s Powerade’s new Matrix Reloaded
combination of black cherry, lime and anise sports drink.
The launch coincides with the
global opening this week of the much-hyped sequel to Keanu Reeves-starred
movie, The Matrix, which did for long black leather coats what
Wonderbra did for Eva Herzogovina.
New packaging graphics incorporate
the streaming computer code design with hidden Powerade "P's"
included as well.
Will Neo succumb to the artificial
intelligence bots? To find out, watch the movie in your long black leather
coat and your dark, dark, sunglasses.
Research
Self-defence
for plants
Biologists have discovered the gene
for an enzyme that is key to natural disease resistance in plants. They
report in this week’s Cell that by enhancing the activity of the
enzyme it might be able to boost natural disease resistance in crop plants
without resorting to pesticides or the introduction of non-plant genes.
The researchers, at the Boyce
Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) and at Cornell University, say
that when activated, the enzyme produces nitric oxide (NO), a hormone that
tells the plant to turn on its defences.
Lead author Daniel Klessig said
"It's known that nitric oxide plays an important role in immunity in
plants as well as in humans and other animals. But the enzyme responsible
for its production in plants was unknown until now. With this discovery,
we may be able to modify plants so that they produce nitric oxide more
quickly, or in larger amounts, when they are attacked by a disease-causing
pathogen, enabling them to better protect themselves from invaders."
According to Klessig, the plant's
NO-producing enzyme has a completely different sequence than enzymes with
similar activity found in all animals. The discovery suggests that plants
and animals use different chemistry to produce NO.
These could provide clues
concerning the way the animal enzyme works, which, in turn, could lead to
improved treatment of human diseases by enhancing the activity of the
enzyme.
"Our discovery means that we
now may be able to regulate the production of this signal. Turning up the
signal should lead to the turning on of a large portion of the defence
arsenal. The result could be crop plants that can better ward off disease
without the use of potentially harmful fungicides and other pesticides, or
the introduction of non-plant genes."
GM/Food
safety
UK’s FSA warns
against GM imports
The British Food Standards Agency
has reminded UK trade associations and food importers to check for non-EU
authorised GM varieties.
This follows the discovery of a
consignment of brown mustard seed from the Canadian 2002 harvest that was
imported into France from Canada. It contained low levels of seed from
three varieties of GM oilseed rape: Roundup Ready, Liberty Link and Seed
Link. While the oil from these varieties is licensed for food use,
approval for the seed itself was not sought.
After testing it, the FSA said it
“does not consider the presence of the GM oilseed rape seed in mustard
to present a health risk. The level of GM oilseed rape seed present in the
mustard seed is approximately 0.0018-0.003%.”
A consignment of mustard seed can
legally contain up to 1% oilseed rape seed. In 2001, some 61% of Canadian
oilseed rape was genetically modified. The FSA estimates that 60,000
tonnes of Canadian mustard seed for food use will be imported into the EU
in 2002/3.
M&A
Unilever
Bestfoods sells Van Den Bergh Oils to ADM
US oils company Archer Daniels
Midland Company says its UK subsidiary, Pura Foods, is to buy Van den
Bergh Oils, the UK edible oil business of Unilever Bestfoods UK. For an
undisclosed sum.
Van den Bergh Oils supplies refined
oils and fats to both Unilever Bestfoods' group companies and other UK
food manufacturers. The business employs approximately 140 people.
Systems
Software
maps social network
Having trouble tracking who’s
doing what to develop your new products? Researchers at the Fraunhofer
Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT) in Germany have
designed software that provides dynamic pictorial information about a
cooperative environment, including overviews of co-workers and shared
documents.
PC-based AwarenessMaps provides
pictures of colleagues who have accessed a document. The pictures fade
away over time, providing a quick view of who worked on a document and
when. The shared document overview shows the structure of a shared
workspace and indicates recent changes.
The interface allows people to be
aware of group progress so they can better adapt to their co-workers'
actions. The researchers say this common frame of orientation reduces the
amount of explicit coordination required by a group of up to several
thousand users.
Product
tracking software cuts retailers’ costs
Software to control product
information management and data synchronization in the retail industry
will save retailers money, claims software house FullTilt Solutions and
T4G, a technology consulting company.
Their product, I-Accel, is a
browser-based system for a shared enterprise-wide repository with enough
flexibility to accommodate manufacturers, distributors, retailers,
industry exchanges and data pools across multiple industries.
Product data synchronisation helps
companies increase revenue and decrease costs by reducing invoicing and
purchase order errors, reducing invoice deductions, reducing returns,
reducing days sales outstanding, and decreasing time to introduce new
items.
Retailers have an extra reason for
upgrading their systems. In about 18 months they have to accept the Global
Trade Item Numbering's (GTIN) 13-digit EAN.UCC code already in use outside
of North America, and the newest standard, EAN.UCC-14. |
